


Ch-ch-changes

by SlasherFiend



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Season/Series 01, Alternate Season/Series 02, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Merpeople, Canon-Typical Violence, Character Death, F/M, M/M, Platonic Male/Male Relationships, referenced Cora Hale, referenced Derek Hale - Freeform, referenced Laura Hale, referenced Scott McCall - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-09
Updated: 2017-07-09
Packaged: 2018-11-29 22:53:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11450754
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SlasherFiend/pseuds/SlasherFiend
Summary: The Argents live in Beacon Lake, instead of the sea to raise Allison. It's peaceful until Kate attacks and kills almost all of the Hales, a fishing family that lived on the lake's edge. Chris must try and stop Kate from harming the remaining survivors and his whole world falls apart in the process.ORa quick rewrite of seasons one and two but with merpeople.





	Ch-ch-changes

**Author's Note:**

> Don't let the summary fool you, it's not as angsty as it seems.  
> I play fast and loose with rules regarding mermaids, including making a promise to them needs to be kept, they change when enraged, they must hide from humans, etc.

“We’re the greatest family in all the sea” is what Kate used to tell Allison when she was younger and asked about the Argent history.

  


Though Allison was raised in a lake, there was too much turmoil in the seas, with humans hunting down every merperson they saw.

  


Even after a time the legacy of the Argents was still true, but then Kate attacked the Hales, the fishing family that lived on the lake and drowned them all.

  


Well, almost all of them. Two kids, with the help of their older sister had swam to shore. Then there was Peter.

  


The other humans dragged him out, half drowned and freezing from the water. He didn’t go with the children.

  


The house was boarded up and fell to ruin for seventy-two lunar cycles.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  


In that time, Allison matured and was restless to swim to larger lakes, or even the ocean, to taste for herself the salt of the sea.

  


Except Kate came back, all sharp teeth and glimmering scales. She was more of a siren then a merperson.

  


She relaxed in the algae that was in the cave in which Chris, Allison and Victoria lived at the bottom of Beacon Lake.

  


Allison was off upstream, her mother not far behind.

  


“I’ve heard someone’s been killing merfolk.” Kate glanced at Chris.

  


He had heard about that. Tails were shredded and torn off, the bodies stabbed with harpoons. “There’s nothing we can do about it right now. There are too many humans up top to avoid being spotted.”

  


Kate hummed and flicked her tail in the water. Her scales had just a hint of blue running up both sides, clashing with the silver body of her tail. “Someone better do something soon or we’ll all be dead.”

  


They both knew she would try and find out who was the killer on her own, even if Chris advised against it. She always did what she wanted.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  


Four lunar cycles later and Chris’s world came apart.

  


Allison fell in love with a boy who was being taught how to kill merfolk, Peter came back to his old house and was responsible for killing everyone, and Kate wanted to kill Peter.

  


Now Chris waited in the moon light, eyes fixed on Peter as he held Kate pinned to the wet dock, a harpoon ready to pierce her through.

  


Allison was off to the side with her fisher boy and his friends near the forest at that end of the lake.

  


“Peter! Peter Hale!” Chris swam around the side of the dock, silver scales flashing in the water.

  


Peter looked down into the water.

  


Kate was gasping to breathe, she was slowly drying out.

  


Peter’s hair was around the same length it had been when his family had been attacked and yet there were patches of visible skin that were pock marked and peeling, the lasting damage from almost drowning.

  


“Don’t do this!”

  


“Why? She’s the one that ordered the house and boats to be destroyed.”

  


“She’s family, I’ll take care of it, we have rules to follow. Let me take her back, there are other merfolk who will make sure she pays for what she did.”

  


Peter pressed his boot down harder on Kate’s chest.

  


She groaned, grabbing at the mud covered sole.

  


“Killing her won’t bring back your family!”

  


“There’s nothing you can offer in return Argent, she dies, my pain dies with her.”

  


“Will it? What will you do once she’s dead? You have no livelihood, you need sustenance to survive.”

  


Peter’s eyes glinted in the moon light as he glanced between Chris and the children, and back. “Give yourself to me.”

  


Allison gasped.

  


Chris clenched his jaw. “Put Kate back in the water and I’ll come to you, tomorrow night.”

  


Peter shook his head. “Tomorrow morning. I won’t humiliate you in front of the other humans by asking you to come in midday. Early morning.”

  


“Agreed.”

  


“Dad no!”

  


Peter shoved Kate off the dock and into the water. “I’m holding you to your promise Argent, you break it and you’ll die.”

  


Chris turned and swam over to Kate, who scoffed at Peter’s retreating form.

  


"Some fisherman, making deals with merfolk just to get what he wants…”

  


Chris glared at her.

  


Allison came close and wrapped her arms around her father’s neck. “Dad, what is he going to do you? He’s not going to kill you, is he?”

  


Chris turned to Allison. “No, he's not. I’ll be staying with him, for however long he wants me.”

  


“Wh-what about mom?”

  


“I’ll explain. I’m sure she’ll understand.”

  


Merfolk weren’t bound to stay with one partner and if they wanted to breed, some had multiple partners at the same time.

  


Chris and Victoria had only tried once to breed, otherwise they would have had more offspring.

  


Kate humphed. “I bet he just wants to try and breed with you. That’s all humans really want.”

  


Chris turned to her again and grabbed her arm. “I told him I would deal with you.”

  


They swam under the water and towards the middle of the lake, where other merfolk came to stay, where they would hear Kate's actions.

  


~~~~~~~~~

  


The next morning, mist was rising from the surface of the lake when a stone was tossed in.

  


The ripples woke Chris and he left the cave, gliding through the water and to the remains of the Hale house.

  


Peter stood at the end of the dock, hands in his pockets.

  


Chris came up to the shallows and rested his belly against the dirt.

  


“You agreed, come to me Christopher.”

  


Chris took a deep breath and grunted, heaving himself out of the water and up to the shore.

  


As he went, his tail slowly separated and hardened.

  


Chris cried out as he moved along and soon he lay naked on the shore, panting for air.

  


Peter came up to him. “I can’t say when I’ll be back here again. I hope you made peace with your family.”

  


Chris nodded, pushing himself up on shaking hands.

  


Peter turned and walked away.

  


Chris got on unsteady feet and followed.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  


Five lunar cycles passed before Peter and Chris came back to Beacon Lake.

  


The first change Chris noticed was the Hale house was torn down and a set of smaller houses were put up instead.

  


Peter entered one of the houses.

  


It smelled like fresh paint and all the windows were open to the cool morning air.

  


Peter’s back was to Chris. He set the bags he had packed on the wooden floor. “My nephew and nieces had these built, we’re going to live here. No more fishing though. We won’t disturb you.” He turned to Chris. Despite the ever-present marks on his skin, the only difference to Peter was his hair was slightly shorter. His anger was gone. He had managed to grieve for his family. But he wasn’t perfect, he had still killed those merfolk and would likely be killed if spotted on the lake.

  


Chris had helped soothe Peter, singing him to sleep from the bathtub, explaining Kate’s deviant way of thinking.

  


“You can go back to your family.” Peter turned back to his bags.

  


Chris felt like a weight had been lifted from him, the promise was fulfilled. He could already taste the water on his skin. He muttered, “Good bye Peter” and left the house.

  


Chris stripped out of his shorts, he never wore shirts unless pressed to from the law, and walked into the lake. The cold water hit his foot and he sighed, sinking to his knees and then he cried out as his tail formed back. But he flicked it and dove into the water.

  


Peter watched the ripples from his window.

  


Chris went to his cave and found Victoria waiting.

  


They embraced, till Chris asked, “Where’s Allison?”

  


“With Scott.”

  


“The boy?”

  


Victoria nodded. “They’re heading to the coast, to the sea.”

  


Chris frowned, he would have wanted to say goodbye at least.

  


“She’ll come back, I can send a message. She missed you, but we didn’t know when you would be back, so she left.”

  


Chris sighed, nodding. “All offspring leave, something pulls them.”

  


Victoria laid a hand on his shoulder after a moment. “Gerard is here.”

  


“What?”

  


“He’s outside the cave, near the dip in the bed.”

  


Chris slowly let go of Victoria and left the cave, going to the dip in the lake bed and waited there.

  


Gerard swam up a few moments later, his silver scales were almost black they were so dark.

  


Chris folded his arms over his chest. “What are you doing here?”

  


It was very uncommon for the parents to visit their offspring after they had grown and left for their own lives.

  


“I heard about Kate, and Allison.”

  


“Nothing’s happened with Allison.”

  


“She left with a human, one who’s been trained to hunt us!”

  


“I’ve seen him, he cares about Allison, he would never hurt her.”

  


“You don’t know that, he was trained by a Hale!”

  


“Peter’s changed-“

  


“Yes.” Gerard’s voice was suddenly cold and he casually propped himself up with his tail. “I heard about that as well. Giving yourself over, promising to be with a Hale, the one who’s killed our friends and almost killed your sister.”

  


“They weren’t my friends, they were rabid on Kate’s way of thinking and Kate was spared because I went with Peter.”

  


“But then you turned her over-“

  


“To be judged! She had to pay for what she did, the Hales didn’t deserve to die!”

  


They were glaring at each other and Gerard swam up, inches from Chris’s face. “You gave up your tail for him. He’s corrupted you. I’ll make sure the same doesn’t happen to Allison.” He turned around and swam off.

  


“You so much as touch a dorsal on Allison-!” But Gerard was gone.

  


~~~~~~~~~

  


That night, Chris waited near the surface, watching the lights in the new Hale houses.

  


Chris wasn’t sure if Gerard was angry at them, or the boy Allison was with, or both. But Chris wouldn’t let his father do anything to any of them. Gerard’s way of thinking was millennia old, when humans feared merfolk and would kill on sight, there had to be such a division of thinking to survive. Not anymore.

  


“Chris?”

  


Chris was startled out of his thoughts by Peter’s voice.

  


“What are you doing?” Peter stood on the dock, looking over the new rail at Chris.

  


“Gerard is here.”

  


Peter frowned. “Your father? I thought…There were stories about him, how vicious he was…”

  


“He’s here, he heard about Allison-“

  


“Allison left with Scott.”

  


“Yes, I know, but Gerard’s furious because you trained Scott.”

  


Peter snorted.

  


Chris swam up to grip the wood of the dock, staring up at Peter, who was only illuminated by the lights from the house. “He might come after you. I know you’ve changed, but he doesn’t see it.”

  


“He’ll have to come on land for that to happen.”

  


“Peter, please be safe. Make sure your nieces and nephew are safe.” Chris knew what Gerard was capable of and it’d be so easy for him to take out four humans.

  


“I think the real question is, are you going to be safe?”

  


Chris frowned. “He wouldn’t, I have Victoria with me.”

  


Peter hummed, like he didn’t believe Chris. “Good night Christopher.” Peter turned and walked back into the house.

  


Chris waited till the door shut to duck back under the water.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~

  


The next morning a great splash woke Chris.

  


Victoria was waking as Chris left the cave, heading to the surface.

  


Gerard was under the dock of the first Hale house, where Peter’s nieces and nephew were.

  


A small boat was sitting in the water, bobbing in the dark waves.

  


Gerard’s sharp teeth was chewing through the rope that held the dock together.

  


“Gerard!” Chris dove, heading over to him, pulling the rope away. “I told you there’s no need-!”

  


“Someone has to do it, considering you sent your sister to her death!” Gerard shoved Chris back and went back to what he was doing.

  


Chris watched for a moment, then headed for Peter’s house.

  


Except he doesn’t make it past the dock when something tugged at his tail. Chris turned to see what was stuck on his tail and was caught up in a fishing net. He twisted about and grabbed hold of the rope as the net moved, was hoisted into the air by Gerard.

  


“We’re not supposed to be friends with them. I always have to clean up the mistakes.” Gerard went back under the dock, pulled a beam loose and then swam towards Peter’s house.

  


“No!” Chris turned over, his tail was already snared in the net, the water dripped off his scales and they shone in the sunlight. “Peter! Peter, wake up!” Chris felt his teeth sharpen and his eyes contracted, the sunlight hurt. He chewed at the ropes as webbing laced between his fingers. Chris snarled as he continued, feeling his gills press open and closed, he’d need to go back in the water soon.

  


Just then the dock creaked and tilted, the net swayed.

  


“Peter!” Chris’s voice was raspy and the sun was hot, he needed to go back in the water!

  


Someone came running over and the net was sliced open.

  


Chris fell, splashing into the cool water and he reverted to a more human looking man. He came up to see a young man with a beard staring at him. It had to be Peter’s nephew. Chris nodded at him and swam over to Gerard, who had almost cleared one side of the dock out.

  


Chris slammed into Gerard and they tumbled back into the water. They rolled down a slope and Chris pinned Gerard, snarling, sharp teeth poking against his lips.

  


“What are you doing? Do you have feelings for a Hale?”

  


“He’s innocent!”

  


Gerard wriggled, to get out from under Chris. He swam up to the surface, Chris followed, cutting his father off.

  


“Now is not the time to show a little back bone, especially when you’re on the wrong side.”

  


Chris crossed his arms over his chest. “If you want the Hales, you have to go through me.”

  


Gerard looked over Chris’s shoulder, where the boat was being pulled to shore. Gerard swam around Chris, heading for the boat.

  


Chris turned and watched as Gerard launched himself out of the water.

  


Chris surfaced and saw Gerard had the ankle of one of Peter’s nieces, who was struggling in the older merman’s hold, trying to kick at him. Chris moved, to pry Gerard off when there was a splash and a harpoon landed in Gerard’s shoulder.

  


Peter’s niece pulled away and Chris turned, seeing Peter standing thigh deep in the shallows, rope from the harpoon trailing in his hands. His eyes were hard and fierce. He walked over to Gerard, who was trying to yank the harpoon from his body.

  


Peter rolled Gerard onto his back with his bare foot. Peter pulled the harpoon out, ignoring Gerard’s shout of pain and pointed it at the older merman’s throat.

  


“Go ahead, kill me, do it for the fame.”

  


“I don’t need the fame, I’m more than that now. Unlike you, I’ve let go of the stories from my past, I’ve moved on. There is no need for you in a world like this.”

  


Gerard shook his head, to argue and Peter stabbed down. Gerard’s tail flailed weakly for a second and then he was still.  


  


Chris moved over to Peter’s side, resting on his tail.

  


Peter grunted as he removed the harpoon from Gerard’s body, then glanced at Chris.

  


“You didn’t have to do that. I could have killed him on my own.”

  


“And be hated by what remains of your family?” Peter shook his head. “Allison didn’t know him and Victoria never wanted to associate with him for long.”

  


“I owed you.” Peter smiled softly at Chris. No human had ever felt the need to repay a promise to a merperson before.

  


Chris glanced at Peter’s nieces and nephew, then back to Peter. “If you ever need my help again, just call.”

  


Peter nodded.

  


Chris went to swim away, when Peter stopped him by asking, “Do you want his body?”

  


“It’ll have to be taken to sea, there’s nothing here that would eat him.”

  


“I’ll take him.”

  


Chris turned at the sound of Victoria’s voice. “I should tell Allison what’s been happening as well. See how she’s been with Scott.”

  


“Thank you.”

  


Victoria embraced Chris, then kissed him, their gills flapped a little. Victoria went and grabbed Gerard’s body, then dragged it under the surface.  


  


Soon the dark water stilled and the blood was gone.

  


~~~~~~~~~~~

  


Weeks later, Chris was resting on the beach of the lake with Peter beside him.

  


Since killing Gerard Peter was hesitant to go back in the water. It had been a reaction to help Chris and save Derek, Cora, and Laura only.

  


Peter had his feet in the cold water though, sitting in shorts.

  


“Allison’s going to visit soon.” Chris flicked his tail, resting on his elbows. “Victoria’s talked about going back to the sea. We only came here to raise Allison…”

  


“Do you miss it? The wide-open vastness?”

  


Chris tilted his head, to think while he splashed water onto his face. “I don’t miss the salt or the predators, though really the only threat has ever been humans. I think I’ll stay here for a few more cycles.” Chris glanced at Peter. “What about your family?”

  


“They’re talking about getting jobs, I might not see them again until the summer. Laura already had a job before coming back here for me.”

  


Chris frowned. “You still have me. I won’t let anything happen to you Peter.”

  


Peter snorted. “You can’t come on land unless I make you.”

  


“I’ll do what I can, you can just talk to me if you want.” Chris slid back into the water, to get away from the hot sun. He turned to Peter though, idly swimming in circles.

  


They said nothing for a few moments, then Peter muttered, “Maybe you can let me swim with you before you leave in the summer.”

  


Chris smiled. “I’d like that.” Though he was sure he’d stay with Peter for the whole summer, just to make sure he had someone there for him. Victoria would understand.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on tumblr-shipperfiendobssesser


End file.
